


Telephone

by Filmsterr



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Camp, Crushes, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Games, Love Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 08:07:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7566631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Filmsterr/pseuds/Filmsterr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean had been slowly developing what was now a pretty massive crush over the last four years.  The two lived in different towns and went to different schools, so they only ever saw each other for these brief periods during the summer. At first, Dean actually thought Cas was kind of weird and quiet, but he’d found himself looking forward to camp more and more each year, and he knew himself well enough to know it wasn’t because of the s’mores.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Telephone

Dean cupped his large hands together and formed a makeshift megaphone over his mouth. “Alright everyone, gather round!” he bellowed.   


A small crowd of young people enclosed around him. They looked tiny compared to Dean, who towered over the group like a beacon on the shore. He smiled down at them.  


The assembled children were all between 11 and 14, of varying skin tones and sizes and dispositions. The vast majority, though, were wearing smiles that covered their little faces. They looked up at Dean as if his word was law. He couldn’t say he didn’t enjoy the authority. And at the back of the crowd, one lone adult amongst the crowd of otherwise tiny humans, was Cas. He, too, was looking to Dean as the voice of command.   


Cas and Dean had been working together as camp counselors for the past few summers, and they really got along swimmingly. For four weeks each year, they spent their days preparing their campers for the challenge of outdoor living, returning to their respective homes at the end of the day. Then, after a month of gathering kindling and building lean-to’s and all the rest, they got to take the kids out to a big national park about an hour’s drive away and put their new skills to the test.   


Dean was glad to have Cas as his co-counselor, his partner in crime. They made a great team: balanced each other where one might have fallen a little short. For example, Cas had a patience with the kids that bordered on saintly. On the other hand, Dean could be firm when necessary. Separately they would be struggling to manage, but together their operation ran as smooth as peanut butter.   


And also, Cas wasn’t so hard on the eyes, either.  


Dean had been slowly developing what was now a pretty massive crush over the last four years.  The two lived in different towns and went to different schools, so they only ever saw each other for these brief periods during the summer. At first, Dean actually thought Cas was kind of weird and quiet, but he’d found himself looking forward to camp more and more each year, and he knew himself well enough to know it wasn’t because of the s’mores.  


It was a little frustrating though, since he didn’t even know what Cas’… situation was anyway. He was pretty sure that his past attempts to draw out any information had been less than subtle.

(“ _Hey is that a God’s eye you’re making? Gonna give it to your girlfriend?— or boyfriend, don’t wanna be presumptive. Hahahahaha, ya know?”_

_Cas had just smiled up at him softly and told him it was for his mom. Dean was flustered and red-faced, not for the first time.)_  


And now Cas was staring at him from the back of their little gathering, looking so encouraging and so intent on whatever Dean was going to say. Dean had to shake his head and look away to regain focus.   


“Okay, you goons,” he said to the kids, who erupted in a fit of giggles. “You’ve all done a great job out here today: we’ve got a roaring fire going, you cooked a suitable dinner, tents are all set up and ready to go— I’m proud of all your work. And so’s Cas. We both are.” A firm nod of agreement from Cas on the other side of the circle. “We’e got one more activity, and then it’s lights out. Sound good?”  


The campers cheered quietly. 

“I’m sorry, I can’t hear you. Does that sounds good?”

“Yeah!” came a much louder sound of approval from the children. 

“Alright then!” Dean yelled. “Everyone take a seat— here, like this.”

They arranged themselves in a sort of horseshoe-shape, the two counselors acting as bookends. Cas smiled sheepishly up at Dean, who returned it. They hadn’t planned this activity beforehand, it just sort of came to Dean spur the moment. 

Dean crossed his legs and placed his hands on his knees as he began to explain what they were doing. “Okay, guys. We’re gonna play a game that I used to love when I was a kid. It’s called Telephone. Do you guys all know how to play?”

Mixed answers came back to him. Some very enthusiastic ‘Yes’’s, a couple of uncertain mumbles. Across the circle, Cas’ expression lead Dean to believe that he was part of the latter group. For good measure, Dean decided to explain the rules. Just so everyone was on equal footing. 

“It’s like this: the first person— let’s say me, for example— I’m going to whisper something to the person next to me— Maria, in this case. I can only say it once, I’m not allowed to repeat myself or clarify. Then Maria is going to whisper to the person next to her, and so on and so on, and then when it gets to the last person— Cas, right now— he’ll say out loud what he thinks I said.”  


“That sounds _boring_!” shouted one of the campers. 

Dean rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you just give it a try?” He suggested, turning to Cas for a little backup. 

Cas’ eyebrows were scrunched together and he still looked a little confused, but he snapped to attention and immediately straightened his back and said, “If Dean says it’s a good game, it’s a good game. In fact,” he turned to his partner and grinned, “can I go first, Dean?”

Dean’s heart gave a little flutter. He smiled wide. “Absolutely.” 

Cas closed his eyes to think for a moment. Seconds later, they popped open again, and he leaned down excitedly to the boy next to him and whispered in his ear. The boy pulled away and whipped his head around, shouting “What!” in Cas’ face.  

“Ah ah ah,” Dean clicked his tongue from his spot across the circle. “No repeating.”

The boy turned to Cas, who only shrugged as a response, and raised his eyebrows. But, he turned to his left and delivered the message, which made its way across to Dean in about two minutes. 

“Lamp on the run?” he repeated aloud, sounding very confused. He quirked an eyebrow to Cas, who let out a laugh and sighed. 

“I said, ‘Camp is fun’.”

The campers roared with laughter. Dean couldn’t help himself and let out a little giggle of his own. “You see? This is a fun game. My turn next.”

Dean mulled over his choice of words. He turned his head and surveyed the area around them, trying to pull some inspiration. _Kid. Fire. Cas. Grass. Log. Cas. Jacket. Cas._

He didn’t mean to keep going back to Cas, it was just… well, the way the fire was shining off his eyes was really something. And his hair looked all mussed up and cute, and he had that sort of shy expression he was always wearing and it just really did something to Dean. In a strange moment of inspiration, a spark lit inside Dean’s stomach, and before he knew it he was leaning down to Maria and whispering something that made his own eyes go wide with excitement. 

Maria pulled away and gasped, a big toothy grin spreading across her face. She’d heard him alright. She gave Dean a knowing look and turned to the girl beside her, giggling as she whispered quietly. 

He tried to divert his eyes, not look at Cas at all until the whisper train was complete. He instead watched with anticipation as each new child took hold of the message, the sneaky look on their eyes fading the farther away they got from the original secret-teller. 

Finally, the message made its way to Cas. His voice was pure confusion when he opened his mouth to say, 

“Pinch your ass to boot?” 

His hands immediately flew to cover his mouth when he realized that he’d let a swear word slip out. His eyes were bulging out a bit and the sight of his shocked expression was enough to send everyone in the circle, Dean included, howling with laughter. The kids loved it, some of them fell off their logs from laughing so hard. 

When the hilarity died down, Cas removed his fingers from his lips and looked to Dean. “What was it you really said?” he asked curiously. 

Dean’s face went serious, but the remnants of the laughing fit played on his mouth. He re-considered for a nano-second, thought about maybe lying or making something up, but Maria was staring at him out the corner of his eye and he knew she would toss him under the bus without even thinking about it. So he picked up his head and stared over the fire and confidently said, “I think Cas is cute.”

That elicited a whole new kind of reaction from the campers, had them _ooh_ ing and _ahh_ ing like the audience track from some old sitcom. But Dean wasn’t listening to them, because he was focused on watching how Cas was reacting. Boy, was he turning red, and he got all fidgety, bashful was the word, really. But there was a big old grin plastered over his face and Dean took that as a good sign. He allowed himself to smile and enjoy the warm feeling that sat in his stomach.

They played a few more rounds of Telephone, letting the campers take the reins this time, both counselors trying their best to pretend they were paying attention at all. The kids groaned when Dean told them to put out the fire and head off to their tents, grumbling dramatically as they marched away from the circle. The group shrank smaller and smaller until it was only Cas sitting there with Dean, biting his lip and averting his gaze. 

After a moment, he finally spoke. “Well, that was interesting.”

“Good interesting or bad interesting?” Dean asked, trying not to sound as nervous as he felt.

“Good interesting,” Cas quickly replied. “Definitely good interesting. Like maybe… a-long-time-coming interesting.”

Dean exhaled a breathy laugh and smiled yet again. “Well that’s good to hear.”

Cas rose to his feet suddenly and Dean mimicked the gesture. They began to walk back toward the campground, hearing the distant sound of the campers’ voices as they prepared for bed. 

“So,” Cas said once his voice had regained its confidence, “maybe I can stop by your tent later tonight?”

And even just the question sent a tingle to so many different parts of Dean’s body that he couldn’t wait to find out what actually touching Cas would make him feel like. Cas’ big goofy smile must have been contagious, because his face was splitting when he told Cas, “I think that would be a great idea.”


End file.
